Deng Xiaoping`s Policy on Literature and the Arts

Abstract

Deng Xiaoping`s literature and art policy was based on Mao Zedong`s Talks at the Yan`an Forum on Literature and Art. Its main point is that literature and art must first serve the workers, peasants, and soldiers; and then the people and socialism. However, in present-day mainland China, the term ”people” refers to those strata of society that support the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although Deng was a victim of the Cultural Revolution and has never wanted to repeat that decade-long catastrophe, he does not permit freedom of creation and insists that literature and art must serve the Party`s ends.